Former mayor’s uncle survives Lafayette shootingFormer Russellville Mayor Raye Turner was at home when she got a phone call no one ever wants to receive. After a man stood up during the premiere of the movie “Trainwreck” at a theater in Lafayette, La., the night of July 23, Turner got a phone call from relatives that her uncle, Dwight “Bo” Ramsay, was one of the nine people wounded. Two women, Jillian Johnson and Mayci Marie Breaux, died as a result of the shooting by John Russell Houser, 5...

Jail releases more footage of Bland before her deathAssociated Press HEMPSTEAD, Texas — Texas authorities on Tuesday released several hours of footage showing Sandra Bland during her three days in jail, saying they wanted to dispel rumors that she was dead before arriving there. Waller County Judge Trey Duhon said such conspiracy theories — including one that Bland’s mug shot was taken after her death — have prompted death threats against county officials. “Because of some of the things that’s ...

New York prison worker pleads guilty in escape of 2 killersAssociated Press PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — A prison worker who was “in over her head” with two inmates convicted of murder tearfully pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges of aiding them by smuggling hacksaw blades and other tools to the pair, who broke out and spent three weeks on the run. Joyce Mitchell, an instructor in the tailor shop at the Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate New York, wore shackles and prison stripes as she entered the pleas i...

Boy, 8, youngest to get double-hand transplantAssociated Press PHILADELPHIA — An 8-year-old boy who lost his hands and feet to a serious infection has become the youngest patient to receive a double-hand transplant, surgeons said Tuesday. Zion Harvey’s forearms were heavily bandaged but his hands were visible as he flashed some big smiles Tuesday at a hospital news conference. He demonstrated his still-delicate grip and described waking up with new hands as “weird at first, but then good....

Pollard to be freed; US analyst spied for IsraelAssociated Press WASHINGTON — Jonathan Pollard, the former Navy intelligence analyst whose conviction of spying for Israel stoked fierce international passions, has been granted parole and will be released from prison in November after nearly 30 years. The decision to free Pollard from his life sentence, announced Tuesday by his lawyers and then confirmed by the Justice Department, caps an extraordinary espionage case that spurred decades of l...

True-crime author Rule dies at 83Associated Press SEATTLE — True-crime writer Ann Rule, who wrote more than 30 books, including a profile of her former co-worker, serial killer Ted Bundy, has died at age 83. Scott Thompson, a spokesman for CHI Franciscan Health, said Rule died at Highline Medical Center at 10:30 p.m. Sunday. Rule’s daughter, Leslie Rule, said on Facebook that her mother had many health issues, including congestive heart failure. Rule’s first book, “The Strang...

Ex-prison guard accused of sexually abusing inmatesAssociated Press ATLANTA — A former high-ranking corrections officer at a southeast Georgia women’s prison used his position of power to prey on inmates, targeting their vulnerabilities and forcing them to have sex with him, according to investigators. Over at least four years, Edgar Daniel Johnson groped and fondled women and forced some to have sex with him, according to sworn statements filed in warrant applications by an investigator for t...

Shooter’s mental problems didn’t stop gun buyAssociated Press LAFAYETTE, La. — John Russell Houser was deeply troubled long before he shot 11 people in a movie theater in Louisiana, but decades of mental problems didn’t keep him from buying the handgun he used. Despite obvious and public signs of mental illness — most importantly, a Georgia judge’s order committing him to mental health treatment against his will as a danger to himself and others in 2008 — Houser was able to walk into an ...

Fire erupts at swimming poolAssociated Press LAS VEGAS — A fire at a high-rise hotel swimming pool sent large plumes of black smoke high above the Las Vegas Strip but left most guests unscathed Saturday. It took firefighters about 30 minutes to gain control of the blaze that broke out on the 14th floor of The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas hotel, Clark County Fire Chief Greg Cassell said. One person was taken to a hospital with smoke inhalation, fire officials said. But nobod...

Police in Oklahoma say motive unclear in 5 fatal stabbingsAssociated Press BROKEN ARROW, Okla. — Police in Oklahoma say they have turned to social media posts for clues about the motive of a teenager accused in the stabbing deaths of his parents and three siblings during a late-night attack that left bodies strewn through the family’s home. A booking document filed by police in the Tulsa suburb of Broken Arrow accuses Robert Bever, 18, of five counts of first-degree murder and a count of aggravated a...

Boozman honors Russellville native WyattSPECIAL TO THE COURIER WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) delivered a speech on the Senate floor Friday in honor of the service and sacrifice of Russellville native Staff Sgt. David Wyatt, a U.S. Marine who was shot and killed when a gunman attacked a military facility in Chattanooga, Tenn. Staff Sgt. Wyatt was laid to rest Friday at the Chattanooga National Cemetery. The following are Boozman’s remarks as prepared for delivery: “The...

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SPECIAL TO THE COURIERThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Oldest Chinatown clings to roots amid tech boomSAN FRANCISCO — For a century and a half, San Francisco’s Chinatown, the nation’s oldest, has sheltered waves of immigrants seeking a new life. It’s the birthplace of Chinese America, and to some extent, the broader Asian America that descended from immigration over the Pacific Ocean throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Now, Chinatown faces powerful economic and demographic challenges that could upend its identity as the city undergoes an u...

Army Ranger saves drowning child FORT BENNING, Ga. — On the afternoon of July 11, Army Rangers Spc. Luke Smith, Sgt. Khali Pegues, and Sgt. Brian Miller were cleaning up after hosting a barbecue with members of the 75th Ranger Regiment at a community pool area here when they heard cries for help. A child about 6 years old had fallen into the pool and drowned. “We heard a woman scream and some commotion from another party,” Pegues, Smith’s supervisor, said. “I grabbed Smith to...

Why airlines keep pushing biofuels: They have no choiceAssociated Press NEW YORK — The number of global fliers is expected to more than double in the next two decades. In order to carry all those extra passengers, airlines are turning to a technology very few can make work on a large scale: converting trash into fuel. They have no other choice. As people in countries such as China, India and Indonesia get wealthier they are increasingly turning to air travel for vacation or business, creating an e...

Video: Traffic stop turns into confrontationAssociated Press HEMPSTEAD, Texas — A police dashboard video released Tuesday shows how a routine traffic stop escalated into a shouting confrontation between a Texas state trooper and a black woman who was later found dead in her jail cell. The video posted by the Texas Department of Public Safety shows the trooper stopping Sandra Bland, a 28-year-old Illinois woman, for failure to signal a lane change. After he hands her a written warning, t...

Bridge passed inspection, failed in flash floodAssociated Press DESERT CENTER, Calif. — The interstate bridge that washed out in the desert between Los Angeles and Phoenix easily withstood its daily load of thousands of cars and trucks, but the pounding of a powerful flash flood scoured away the land where the bridge was anchored, officials said Monday. The flood severed a highway vital to the movement of people and commerce between two of the nation’s largest cities. On an average day, th...

Lawyers may try to use Cosby’s own words against himAssociated Press Bill Cosby’s lurid, decade-old testimony about his philandering could do more than damage what’s left of his fatherly image — it could very well be used against him in court by some of the women who accuse him of sexual assault. Rocco Cipparone, a defense lawyer in New Jersey who is not connected to any of the legal action surrounding Cosby, said Monday that what the comedian said under oath could wind up hurting him in civil ...

Arkansas governor temporarily moves guard recruitersLITTLE ROCK — Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson is temporarily closing the state’s nine storefront National Guard recruitment centers as officials review their security following last week’s attacks on two military facilities in Tennessee. Hutchinson on Monday signed an executive order moving Guard members from the centers to their nearest armory or wing while Adjutant General Major General Mark Berry works on recommendations for improving security...

SpaceX says strut snapped, brought down rocketAssociated Press CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX suspects a 2-foot steel strut snapped inside its rocket and led to last month’s launch accident. The company’s founder and chief executive, Elon Musk, said Monday that these struts had flown many times before without any problem. But two minutes into the June 28 launch, one of the struts in the second stage of the unmanned Falcon 9 rocket likely broke loose. The strut was holding down a high-press...

Suspect in shooting of five showed no emotion at arrestBENEDICTA, Maine — The suspect in a criminal rampage across several northern Maine communities that left two people dead showed no emotion and revealed no clues about his motive when he was arrested, the suspect’s uncle said Saturday. Anthony Lord, 35, was arrested Friday after police say he beat a man, stole guns and a pickup truck, kidnapped a young woman and shot five people, killing two. Lord was taken into custody at the home of his uncle...